This invention relates to systems for separating, ordering and feeding workpieces through machinery, and more particularly, to apparatus for arranging randomly distributed metallic workpieces into predetermined order.
Although progress is continuously being made in the development of new methods and equipment for the machining of workpieces, much time and effort is expended in organizing the workpieces, which may be randomly disposed in a box or in a pile, into a structured arrangement which is suitable for efficiently supplying workpieces to automated machining and assembly systems. The workpiece supply problem is especially acute in systems which are required to supply difficult-to-handle workpieces, such as springs, which are easily entangled with one another.
The prior art has thrust at this problem by developing automatic systems, in addition to manual systems, which utilize gravity and mechanical impact, such as vibration conveyors and vibrating boards, and compressed air systems. In general, these devices and systems are optimized experimentally and are empirically adapted for handling specific workpieces. These systems, however, do not solve the problem of organizing the multitude of hard-to-handle workpieces, such as those which are easily tangled, formed of irregular material or thin plates, or constructioned with coarse tolerances. The known systems for handling workpieces can be applied only inefficiently, if at all, to workpieces having the foregoing characteristics.
One known prior art effort to provide a system for separating, ordering and feeding metallic workpieces utilizes magnetic fields from AC or DC magnets. In such systems, individual workpieces which are moved near stationary magnets are organized in an ordered arrangement. Other known magnetic systems which use non-uniform, stationary magnetic fields have been used to separate, orient, and feed irregular workpieces, such as electronic components, at a pickup point. Such magnetic systems, however, are limited in use for handling workpieces which are not easily entangled with one another, such as diodes with axial leads. Systems utilizing rigid or moving, DC or AC magnets are known for handling sheet metal workpieces.
Prior art improvements to the foregoing systems which utilize non-uniform, stationary magnetic fields have resulted in systems which utilize pulse-shaped magnetic fields. Although such pulse-shaped field systems are useful for orienting workpieces with respect to one another and feeding the work pieces to machinery, these systems are useful for handling workpieces which do not vary substantially in size and shape from one another.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide an improved apparatus for separating, ordering and feeding a variety of metallic and hard-to-handle workpieces.